


Roles Reversed

by vhslmtd



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode: s06e12 Casecation, Established Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Kids, Married Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:00:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27516487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vhslmtd/pseuds/vhslmtd
Summary: What if Amy was the one who didn't want kids instead of Jake?--- Casecation where Amy didn't want kids, there was no debate, and they actually resolved things.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 8
Kudos: 45





	Roles Reversed

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Ever since I watched this episode I've always thought it made more sense for Jake to want kids since he has mentioned them multiple times: "I love guns, I'm gonna make such a good dad" or "I don't have kids yet" and Amy has never mentioned them.
> 
> So here's Casecation but with Amy not wanting kids, the debate didn't happen, and they resolved things somewhat realistically.
> 
> -some parts are directly from the episode while others are just part of this.

A hospital room had never looked more beautiful. The way the fairy lights twinkled against the sterile walls. The way the sitting area that was meant to resemble Paris was set up perfectly. How the dim music—which Jake would soon find out wasn’t allowed—hummed blissfully in the background. It was perfect

Until it wasn’t.

Pam had burst in moments ago, hoping to steal a glance of the perfect couple she had been eavesdropping on for the past ten minutes. The pair was counting down their favorite moments of being married, unable to make it to number one before they were interrupted.

“You’re both very attractive,” Pam would later say.

An “Aren’t they?!” would also be heard from an excited Charles lingering in the corridor.

Jake rushed over to the window, drawing the blinds. “Boyle, go home,” he sighed as Charles’s face dropped to a sad, but understanding, look.

“Do you two have kids? Mixed race babies are always so adorable!”

Jake’s eyes went wide as he quickly tried to figure out a way to escort her out of the room, feeling Amy’s uncomfort level matching his. “You…said words.”

He gently took ahold of Pam’s arm and started guiding her to the door where a nurse had just entered, obviously getting the hint that she shouldn’t be in there.

Jake realized neither him or Amy had given her a proper answer when Pam’s gaze was still on them expectantly. Before the nurse could drag her all the way out of the room, he said something along the lines of “Not yet, but hopefully soon.”

And just like that, Pam was out of the room, the music was shut off, and they were alone again.

Jake fumbled with his phone, desperately trying to turn off the music before the nurse comes back and yells at him again. When he successfully shut it off, he glanced over to Amy who was still standing in the same spot as before.

Her face looked, occupied. It looked like something was drilling her mind. All of the signs were there: the gaze that was staring intently at the wall, the unusual slouch in her posture, even as much as chewing the inside of her cheek—Jake knew something was up.

“Ames? You okay?”

Jake walked over to where he was standing previously, placing a soft hand on her shoulder. This seemed to bring her out of wherever her head was at because her gaze on the wall broke and was now settled on him.

“Yeah,” she said in a small voice. “Just what you said really threw me off.”

Jake’s eyebrows furrowed as he thought back to all the sentences he’s said in the past ten minutes. “You said words? Wait, no. It’s Ahmad Rashad?”

Amy gave a small smile, chuckling lightly. She shook her head as her face grew more serious. “No - the whole kids thing.”

“Oh, yeah. I didn’t know what to say. We haven’t talked about when yet, so I just said soon, because hopefully.”

“It’s just, we never talked about kids at all, Jake.”

Jake’s eyes moved to focus on the empty chairs behind Amy as his thoughts grew stronger. Eventually, he glanced back over to her. “You do want kids, don’t you?”

Amy didn’t say anything, she just bit her lip silently. When she saw Jake growing slightly impatient with her answer, she softly shook her head.

“What? You’re a Santiago! You have seven brothers and like twelve thousand cousins!”

Jake’s never been so shocked. They had never spoken in-depth about kids or their potential future family before. He thought they had been on the same page. All the times he’s mentioned them she never shot it down, so he assumed they were good to go.

“Yeah but…” she slightly trailed off. That was just adding more things to the list of things that shocked Jake today. Her voice was so, small. It was a tone that he’s only heard twice—both times being after her parents degraded her.

“I don’t know. I’ve always been so career driven. I want to be a NYPD Captain, not a stay at home mom. It’s never been a part of my plan.”

Amy could tell Jake was speechless, still absorbing all the information that was just thrown at him.

She motioned a hand out, trying to break his thought process, “What about you? You’re always talking about your family problems, so I assumed that put you off of having kids.”

Instead of giving her a clear answer as to why everything she just said made him want to have kids more, he simply asked. “How do we handle this?”

Amy shrugged, her eyes moving down to her shoes. “I don’t know.”

A quiet moment passed as they both brainstormed what to do. Amy was about to offer structured debate as an option, but she tossed it out before she said anything. The vibe in the room was too low for her to get excited about one of her favorite things.

“Here,” Jake says after a minute. “Tell me every reason why you’re adamant about kids.” He sat down in the empty chair, giving the one next to him a soft pat. Amy followed, sitting next to him.

“It’s just - I’m scared of…” she trailed off, immediately speaking up in a much stricter tone. “You’re not going to change my mind, Jake.”

Jake was taken aback slightly. Amy had never been so secretive with him. Even in the early stages of their relationship they had an unwritten rule of always being open with each other—communication was key.

Just as Jake was about to speak up, the door burst open as Terry came in dancing, singing the casecation song Jake had made up earlier, even Rosa was dancing as she trailed in behind him.

“Casecation all I every wanted. Casecation - the vibe in here is really…weird,” Terry sang, growing quiet towards the end.

Rosa noted the tense atmosphere. “I think they’re having a fight.”

“Nope,” Jake said hopping up from his chair. “Just a devastatingly sad conversation. What’s up?”

“Got word whoever is trying to kill Rojas is coming to finish the job,” Rosa said, glancing between the two as she tried to make out the elephant in the room.

“Okay, Amy and I will secure the room-“ he starts but is immediately cut off by Amy saying, “Actually I’ll go with Terry to the nurse’s station.”

She grabs her coat, ignoring the “Uh-oh” coming from Terry and the “Damn Jake” from Rosa as she leaves the room with Terry slowly following.

Rosa steps inside, closing and locking the door behind her. “You wanna tell me what’s going on?”

Jake raised his eyebrows, curious to why Rosa was asking personal questions since it’s very unlike her. He pushed it aside, running an anxious hand through his hair.

“It was about if we should have kids.”

Rosa’s eyes went wide. “Oh damn.”

“Yeah.”

They quickly secured the room, making sure everything was covered before standing in the back. Jake was silent during the process, but his thoughts were pretty much screaming at him. Rosa gave him a knowing look, causing Jake bobble his head up and down.

“I just don’t know why she won’t tell me why.”

“Easy, her workaholic trait and career-driven personality.”

Jake shook his head. “No, there’s something else. She started to tell me, but then she stopped.”

It was obvious that the situation was eating him up, causing Rosa to drop her usual tough tone and speak in a softer one. “Listen, I’m sure she’s just scared. She’ll come around and tell you eventually, it just might take some time - or interrogation. If you want, I’m a pretty good bully.”

“No,” Jake shot that down quickly. “But, you’re right.”

“Of course I am.”

***

Amy and Terry had made their way to the nurse’s station, locking it down as quickly as they could. As they moved to a quieter part of the room to play the “wait for a suspicious person to walk by game” Terry gave Amy a gentle pat on the shoulder.

“Listen, if you want to tell what’s going on, that’s cool. If not, that’s cool too.”

Amy nodded, shifting her eyes off of the nurse’s station and onto Terry. “We were arguing about having kids.”

Terry let out a loud sigh. “Ooh, that’s a tough one. You didn’t discuss it at all in the four years of being together?" She shook her head. "That’s not like you, Santiago. I thought you would’ve asked him about it when you first got together.”

“I guess it never crossed my mind. He had mentioned it a few times, but it was either when we weren’t together yet, or a stressful day when one of our friend’s lives was at stake. I didn’t think he was serious. With his childhood not being ideal, I figured he wouldn’t want that.”

Terry tilted his head briefly. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Why don’t you want them? I assumed you would since you come from a big family?”

“I’m just scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“Not having those maternal instincts, not being able to promise I would prioritize them over my work, accidentally becoming like my parents and having favorites or putting too much pressure on them. Literally everything."

Terry was quiet as he allowed each word to enter his brain. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, a sincere look in his eyes. “Sharon had the same doubts.”

“She did?”

“Oh yeah. I mean not exactly the same with the whole parents thing, but work wise and the maternal instincts definitely.

Amy looked at him curiously. “How did she fix it?”

“She didn’t for a while. It wasn’t until the twins were born that everything felt right. It’s something you can’t describe. I promise those instincts will come, it just takes time.”

Amy nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. Thanks Terry.” He squeezed her shoulder in return before both of them went back to scanning the room.

***

After the whole situation with Jake having to talk down Pam and convince her to hand over the bomb, he delivered it safely to the bomb squad.

He went back down to the nurse’s station where Rosa had gone to join Terry and Amy once she finished evacuating the floor. Through all of the staff, uniformed officers, and patients, he saw his wife. It was obvious she hadn’t spotted him yet. She had a nervous gaze at the doors from the opposite side, ones Jake assumed Rosa had come from.

“Ames!” he called from the other side of the room. She shot her head around, quickly running to him and throwing her arms around him.

“Are you okay?” she asked as they broke apart and she surveyed his body, checking for any signs of injury.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Can we go home now?”

A soft smile appeared on her face. “Definitely.”

The pair made it home safely and were now curled up on the couch. Both had decided not to address the conversation they had previously and instead talked about the bomb and how much time Pam was going to get.

“Can we talk?” Jake asked suddenly, even though he was almost positive Amy had drifted off. He was surprised when he received a “Mhm” in response.

Amy carefully unraveled herself from Jake’s arms and slid a little further away so she could face him properly, ignoring the cold air that hit her shortly after she broke away from Jake's embrace.

“I’m sorry about today. I kind of overreacted,” Amy said as her gaze fell to the floor.

“It’s okay. I still want to talk about it though, if you're up for it? How about we both give our sides?”

Amy thought about it for a second before agreeing.

“Okay, you go,” Jake said, a smirk appearing on his face as Amy shot him an annoyed, but amused, look.

“Fine. I guess I’m just scared.”

“Of?”

“So many things,” she said, almost laughing at how unbelievable she was being.

He moved his hand so it was resting on her leg. “Okay, let’s break them down one-by-one.”

“I don’t have maternal instincts. What’s going to happen when our baby needs something and I have no idea what to do?”

“We figure it out together. Wing it, that’s what parenting mostly is.”

“You know I hate winging it,” she said, earning a chuckle from both of them. “My work - I have this vision for my future and what if I’m not able to put the kid’s needs before my own. It’s selfish, but it’s something I’m worried about.”

His hand on her leg began rubbing soothing circles. “Babe, a lot of people have that fear. My mom had it, Charles told me he had it. It’s something that changes when the kid is born. You discover a balance, it’s just different for everyone.”

Amy nodded as Jake continued. “Anything else?”

“My family is a big one. Both literally and figuratively. I had always been told that I had to get settled down, married with kids as soon as possible. The more my parents harped on me about it, the more I wanted to rebel against it.”

“Amy Santiago, rebelling?” Jake joked, earning him a small shove from Amy.

“Shut up, you know what I mean. I just…don’t want to be like my parents. I don’t want to unintentionally put so much pressure on them and expect unreasonable things - or do something like rank how much I love them.”

“Amy, you are nothing like your parents.”

“How do you know?” For the first time during this conversation Amy looked at Jake. She saw the sparkle in his eye and the warm smile he wore, instantly calming her.

“Because, unlike your parents, you don’t degrade me. You think very highly of me, despite the fact I am practically a toddler myself. You respect everyone, even if they aren’t high-strung-“

“Watch it,” Amy cut in.

“Fine, type A,” he said amusingly.

“You think so?”

“I know so. Speaking of dysfunctional families, do you want to know why I want kids?”

“Hmm?”

“I want to be better than my parents. Sure, my mom was fine. But I want to be there, even more than she was. I want to give my kid the life I didn’t have. So if anything, dysfunctional families are motivation.”

Jake noticed the rims of Amy’s eyes becoming glossy. He opened his arms, inviting Amy to curl into him, resting her head against his chest. They fell into relaxation as Jake wove his arms around her.

“We can talk more about this another time if you want,” Jake offered.

“No.”

“No?” he repeated.

“I do want kids.”

“What changed?”

“Knowing that we’ll be working it together to give our kids the lives we didn’t have. To be better than our parents.”

Jake glanced down to look at her. He could only the top of her head, but he felt her smile.

"We can wait as long as you want. We don't have to do anything until you're 100% ready."

"Okay, and Jake?"

"Mmm?"

"I just wanted to say this wasn't a spur of the moment decision. I've thought about kids - with you before. It's just...my anxiety took over and planted all these things in my head."

Jake tightened his grip on her. "Don't worry, I'll be right by your side though it all. I'm not going anywhere."


End file.
